


Love Me!

by soomate



Series: LOVE ME! SERIES [1]
Category: Backstreet Boys, Popslash
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1990s, Celebrity Crush, Explicit Language, F/M, Family Problems, First Kiss, First Time, MTV Video Music Awards, POV Third Person, Slow To Update, nick carter hates fanfiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:15:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25454533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soomate/pseuds/soomate
Summary: In which Annie Hammond is childhood friends with Nick Carter and their feelings are questionable about each other.
Relationships: Nick Carter/Original Female Character(s)
Series: LOVE ME! SERIES [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1843663
Comments: 29
Kudos: 8





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> this was originally supposed to be published on wattpad first but they're having problems right now so i guess i'm writing here. annie hammond is portrayed as christina ricci

**April 21, 1990**

"Ma, I'm gonna take out the trash." The 10 year old dark brown hair girl informed her mother while taking the bag out of the trash can.

"Okay Annie! Get the mail too!" Her pregnant mother responded.

Annie nodded, holding the trash bag and unlocking the door.

As she goes outside, she sees some kids, some around her age, playing outside.

Annie never really likes to play outside of her neighborhood since the neighborhood is unpleasant. So she doesn't associate with her neighbors.

She put the trash bag in the waste can and went to her mailbox.

While she was getting mail, she felt something round hit her right ankle softly. She looks down and sees a blue ball.

She picked it up and looked to her right to see whose ball it is.

A slightly short blonde boy, who looks like he's around her age, walked up to her.

"That's my ball, I'm sorry." The boy apologized and blushed.

"No worries." Annie gave the ball to him.

They awkwardly stood there for a little while, until one of them spoke up.

"I'm uh.. Nick." Nick said and held his hand up for a shake.

Annie shook his hand, "I'm Annie." She said.

Nick nodded, "I never really see you out here, did you move here?" He asks.

"Oh no, I've lived here almost my entire life." Annie responded and chuckled.

Nick laughed a little and nodded.

"I just don't go out and play here as much." Annie added.

Nick nodded again in response.

He was about to speak until one of his friends- or siblings- called out for him.

"Nick! Did you get the ball?!" A girl spoke out.

"I have to go, see you soon maybe?" Nick said.

Annie nodded, "See you soon, goodnight." Annie farewelled.

Nick smiled and walked off.

• • •

Annie went back inside with a small smile. She placed the envelopes on the coffee table.

She got ready for bed, it was almost 10 P.M. and she has school tomorrow.

Before she went to bed, she continued writing her piece.

She strummed her guitar, trying to find perfect notes and words for the song.

While thinking, she hears loud gunshots, and that makes her flinch.

Gunshots would go off every week in their neighborhood, Annie thinks she would get used to it by now, but she's not.

That ruined her mood of writing. She closed her notebook, clicked her pen, and went to bed.


	2. Chapter 1

**April 22, 1990**

"I'm gonna be late for the bus if I eat breakfast, but I really wanna eat this right now." Told Annie, drooling mentally over her mom's delicious looking pancakes.

"You can eat if you want, I can drop you off to school since I have work today." Colette said, putting plates and cups on the dining table.

"Okay, thanks ma!" Annie ran back to her room to get ready.

Annie (and maybe her mother) would describe herself as creative and caring. Creative because she creates music, when she grows up she wants to be a songwriter for other artists, she is very fond of writing. And she is caring because she would help anyone if needed, she likes helping them, and she thinks she would sacrifice herself for her family and or her close friends.

Annie Hammond lives in Tampa, Florida, in an unpleasant neighborhood where people fire guns, do drugs, and other illegal doings. She lives with her mom Colette, and her aunt, Tate.

Her father lived with them for a while before aunt Tate wasn't living with them. He left them before Colette even knew she was pregnant with their second baby. They had a toxic relationship but they had to stay together for a while to raise Annie, which was a bad idea for them. Annie would constantly hear them fight, would hear glass breaking, and it would disturb her at night, so she is glad that he left.

Annie got ready, she wore denim long shorts, a buttoned-up dark green flannel (not tucked in), black vans, and she put her short hair in a half bun.

While they're eating, Annie randomly spoke up.

"I talked with one of the neighbors last night."

"Well that's nice to hear, how were they?" Colette asks, chewing on her pancake.

"He's really nice, his name is Nick." Annie said, eating her pancake.

"A boy, huh?" Colette snickered.

"Mom, it's not like that. We just met and became friends, you'll probably kill me if I'm dating someone right now." Annie declared.

"Yeah, you're right." Colette smiles.

"Now finish up your pancake or you"ll be late to school."

• • •

She finally gets to see her best friend, Lauren, at school today.

She hasn't seen her since the week before last week. It was spring break so Lauren had to go on vacation to Los Angeles with her dad and her sister, while Annie stayed home with her family, playing and making some music.

"How's Lauren?" Colette asks while driving to school.

"She's okay, she called me and told me that she came home yesterday and she's coming to school today." Annie responded.

"That's nice, you haven't seen her since two weeks ago, are you excited?" Colette asks, smiling.

Annie nodded and smiled.

After four minutes of driving, they finally arrived at school.

"Have fun at school!" Colette hugs Annie.

Annie hugs, "Okay ma, bye love you!" She grabbed her backpack and stepped out of the car. She closed the car door and walked to the crowded halls of her middle school.

As she was putting her items in and out of her locket, she felt a tap on her shoulder which made her flinch.

She turns around and sees Lauren, she immediately hugs her.

"I've missed you, even if it's been a week since we haven't seen each other." Annie grins.

"Me too." Lauren smiles.

They both pulled away from the hug, "How was your vacation?" Annie asks.

"It was great, we did a lot, went to Universal Studios and Disneyland!" Lauren says, smiling.

"That's great!" Annie nods.

It was Lauren's turn to ask, "What about _your_ spring break, what did you do while I was gone?"

Annie remembers her neighbor "Not much, same old thing, but I have something to tell you about at lunch that happened yesterday." She says.

Lauren nods.

"Oh! Hold on." Lauren holds up her finger and zips open her pocket from her backpack.

She pulls out a thin bracelet that looks handmade, it was braided with white, teal, light green, and dark green yarn.  
She handed it to Annie and she took it.

"You made this?" Annie asks in awe.  
"Yeah, from the help of my cousin." Lauren said.

"I have my own too, but different colors." She shows her dark pink and purple yarn bracelet.

Annie smiles at her, "Thank you so much."

She looks at the clock, seeing it's almost time for class and she didn't want her and her best friend to be late.

"I have to go, don't be late to your first class." Annie lightly slams her locker close.

"Don't worry about it."

• • •

After the fourth period, it was time for lunch. Their cafeteria was outside.

"Did you hear about the fifth graders going to have a field trip here next week?" Lauren asks, making up a conversation about what she heard from last period.

"Yeah, but last year we did it in March." Annie responded, wondering why they changed the dates like it's the main problem.

"Right." Lauren nodded.

Lauren remembered what Annie said earlier, "What were you gonna tell me what happened yesterday?"

Annie lightened up while eating her sandwich, "Oh yeah!"

"I made a friend from my neighborhood."

"Well that's something I didn't expect you to say." Lauren said, taking a bite of her banana. Annie doesn't take it offensively, Lauren knows how messed up her neighborhood is and she feels bad.

"He's really nice, his name is Nick, I'm not sure if he goes to this school since I never see him around." Annie takes a bite of her sandwich.

"Nick.. Carter?" Lauren asks, looking at her with her furrowed eyebrows.

"Not sure, do you know him?" Annie asks, curious.

"He's in my seventh period. Tell me what he looks like cause it's probably him." Lauren motioned her head closer so she could listen closely.

"Um.. he's pale, dirty blonde flat hair, and he's kind of short." Annie shortly described, counting with her fingers.

"Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure that's him." Lauren nodded, not looking at Annie, but looking at who's behind her.

Annie questioningly furrows her eyebrows, looking at Lauren. "What are you looking at?"

"Look behind you." Lauren says.

Annie looks behind, seeing a group of friends, and one of them being familiar looking.

Annie turns back around, "That's him." She whispers.

Lauren nods, smiling.

"Do you like him?" She asks, grinning.

Annie rolls her eyes, "My mom asked the same thing, no I don't, and plus, we just met yesterday."

"Love at first sight." Lauren half-jokingly says and throws away her banana peel and Annie's napkin.

While having a different conversation, they both hear shuffling, crying, yelling, and laughing behind Annie. They look to see what's happening.

Many students are surrounding the scene, Annie and Lauren walked up and looked.

One of the popular seventh grade students, Joel, who is known for being a bully, is tackling Nick down and punching him at the sides, he looks helpless. Some of Nick's friends are trying to pull him out of Nick, yelling at him, but Joel's friends are holding them out.

Annie doesn't like this feeling, no one is helping him, just watching the scene that's happening in front of them.  
She pushed past the other students, ignoring Lauren's call out for her, she stood beside Joel, not knowing what to do to stop this.

Joel didn't even notice her, Annie pushed him out of Nick, making his back hit the bench lunch chair.

Annie widened her eyes in shock, she didn't mean to hurt him. She then looked at Nick.

Nick opened his clenching eyes, he made eye contact with her, he then realized that it was his neighbor, he smiled a little at her.

Annie offered him a hand and he took it.

"Thanks Annie." Nick smiles.

Joel got up, groaning in pain, he looked at Nick and Annie.

He walked up to them, pushing them apart and stood between them, he then looked at Annie.

"Who the hell are you?!"

Annie just glared at him.

The principal of the school came to the scene.

"You three, come with me." She pointed at them.

Annie widened her eyes, she had never been called by the principal for something like this.

They all followed her.

• • •

Nick and Annie are waiting and sitting down together on a chair that's next to the principal's door, Joel is inside her office, having a talk.

"Does this happen often?" Annie asks.  
Nick looked at her, questioningly.

Annie looks at him, "Does Joel do this to you guys often?" She clearly repeated.

"Yeah, I'm kinda used to it now." Nick confessed and looked down.

Annie was disappointed, but not surprised. She knows what Joel is like, everybody in the school does.

She felt bad, "I- I'm so sorry."

Nick shrugged "Eh, I kind of deserve it, I'm a weird ki-" He was cut off.

"You don't deserve it at all, we haven't talked a lot but the looks from when we first met, you're so kind-" Annie didn't get to finish her compliment when the door opened, revealing Joel holding a pink slip.

He glared at them, "Mrs. Miller wants you in." He said and exited out.

Annie looked at Nick, and then went inside.

• • •

"What happened to you?" Lauren ran to Annie after getting her backpack from her locker, it was the end of the day.

"I was excused, I wasn't in trouble, she said she was glad that I stopped it." Annie slams her locker shut and walks with Lauren.

"Well that's good, how's Nick?" Lauren asks.

"He's okay, it happens to him often, I feel so bad for him." Annie pouted.

"Poor guy." Lauren and Annie get inside the school bus. They both sat at their assigned seat.

"Is your mom okay with me staying with you for a little? My dad and my stepmom went to work and my little sister is still at school getting picked up by my mom." Lauren asks and reasoned.

"Of course! Also my auntie Tate is taking care of us at the moment." Annie added.

"Okay!" Lauren nodded and smiled.

As they arrived at Annie's destination, they got up and speed walked out.

As the bus left, they saw Nick outside playing basketball with the other neighbors outside of his house.

Nick saw them and grinned.

Annie kindly grinned and waved, Nick waved back.

While his other friends were playing, he ran up to them.

"Hey guys!"

Lauren waved at him.

"Do you guys wanna play with us after you guys put your stuff away?" Nick asks.

Lauren looks at Annie for an answer, Annie looks back.

Annie then looks at Nick, "Yes we will, but after we do our homework."

Nick nods, "That's great, see you later!" He ran back and continued playing with his friends.

"You guys actually live next to each other." Lauren began.

"Yeah." Annie nods.

As they get in her house, they both see aunt Tate sitting on the couch, watching TV.

"Hi Annie." Tate stood up and hugged her.

Annie hugs back while Lauren silently watches.

They pull apart, Tate looks at Lauren and greets her too.

"I brought some cookies, it's in the kitchen if you guys want some." Tate said.

"Thanks auntie Tate." Annie and Lauren grabbed some cookies and went to Annie's bedroom.

They take off their shoes, put their backpacks down, and sit on the bed while chewing on their chocolate chip cookies.

"How many homeworks do you have?" Lauren asks.

"I have three. Math, english, and art, the last two are both due till next week so I'll just do math for now since I struggle with it the most." Annie responds.

"I only have two, let's do it." Lauren zips up her backpack and pulls out her binder and her pencil pouch, Annie does the same.

• • •

"I almost cried." Annie confesses, stressed out after her both-sided page math homework.

"It's not that hard for me, but I get how you feel about it since I struggle with english." Lauren says.

"Are they still out there?" Lauren asks, remembering about earlier.

Annie stood up and looked outside, still seeing the guys playing a different ball game.

"Yeah."

They both put on their shoes and went out of Annie's bedroom.

"Where are you guys going?" Tate asks.

Annie and Lauren look at her, "We're gonna play outside next door."

Tate nods, "Oh okay, be safe!"

Annie opens the door and runs outside.

As they got to them, Nick turned around and saw them.

"Hello again!" Nick smiles.

"Hi." Annie greets.

"Are you guys playing volleyball?" Annie asks, looking behind Nick.

"Yeah, you can join us, pick a team though." Nick says, walking back with Annie and Lauren behind him.

Annie and Lauren look at each other, deciding which side.

"I'll be on the other side." Lauren says, walking at the front.

'I'll just go on to Nick's team I guess.' Annie thinks to herself.

One of the guys from Lauren's team served, which results in the ball aiming at Annie, she bumps the ball and the game continues.

They went on until round five, while the ball was bumping back and forth, Annie and Nick tried to bump the ball, but it resulted in them missing the ball and instead just bumped at each other.

They fell on each other, Annie on top and Nick on bottom.

"Oh fu- I'm so sorry." Annie apologizes.

"I'm sorry too."

"Are you guys okay?!" One of the boys asks.

Annie and Nick noticed the position they're in right now and blushed. Annie immediately sat up and looked at the guy who called them out.

"We're okay." Annie says and stands up, she sees Lauren smirking at them, Annie just rolls her eyes and smiles a little. Nick stood up too.

"Hey, guys it's getting kind of late, I think we should go home now." One of the guys said.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow guys." Nick farewelled and the others went to their homes besides Annie and Lauren.

Lauren walks up to them, "Well we had fun."

"I'm glad, will you guys be here tomorrow?" Nick asks.

"Not sure about me cause I don't live around here." Lauren admitted.

"I'll be here tomorrow." Annie nods.

Nick smiles, "Great! See you tomorrow."

"Bye Nick." Annie waves at him and walks back, Nick does the same.

"My dad should come pick me up any minute now." Lauren looks at the clock.

"Can I stay here if my dad doesn't pick me up any time soon?" Lauren asks.

"Yeah, I'll let you borrow my clothes." Annie says, smiling.

"Thank you." Lauren smiles back.

Lauren did in fact get picked up by her dad late at night, she took a nap and got woken up by Annie when Colette told her that Lauren's dad is here.

Annie went to sleep, thinking about what happened earlier, about Nick Carter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lauren as in lauren kitt carter, nick's wife irl, but annie's bestfriend in this fic.  
> \- k ♡


	3. Chapter 2

**June 6, 1990**

"You're gonna do an actual part?" Annie asks in shock.

"Well.. it's just a short film." Nick admitted.

"You're still the main character, you're gonna be famous!" Annie squealed quietly.

They were both sitting on Nick's bed, it was noon, he had told her that he got a main part in a short musical film called Griswold the Turkey. Nick has done plenty of acting before, just the background character, and he liked doing it very much, he could do this to help his family with their problems.

"Eh.." Nick shrugs.

"You were in _Edward Scissorhands_." Annie mentions.

"I was just in the background! And plus, it hasn't even come out yet." Nick snaps.

"Winona Ryder and Johnny Depp were in it, you could be known to be in the movie" Annie rolls her eyes.

"Nope." Nick ends the conversation.

"What else are you gonna do?" Annie asks.

"Like.. music and film stuff?" Nick questions, Annie responds with a nod.

"Might just audition to be in _The Mickey Mouse Club_." Nick half-jokingly says. Annie doesn't take it as a joke and she jumps up.

"No way! That's literally my favorite show!" She says almost too loudly.

"Well, you should audition too!" Nick suggests.

"Uhh.. I don't know about that." Annie blushes.

"I'm not that talented." She adds.

"I doubt that, _Mickey Mouse Club_ trains you." Nick informs.

"I'll think about it, I don't really want to be in the public that much." She says.

"Well, okay then." Nick nodded.

"I'm so booorrreeeddd.." Annie groans.

"What do you wanna do then?" Nick asks and looks at her, who is laying down on his bed.

"Wanna play basketball?" Nick suggests.

"I don't even know how." Annie sat up.

"I could teach you."

Annie nods in agreement, they both stood up and went outside.

Nick dribbles the ball, "Let me teach you how to shoot."

They both took an hour to play, Nick thinks Annie is pretty good for a girl since he rarely sees a girl play basketball.

Annie dribbles the ball about nine times and throws it, Nick tries to block it but misses and the ball hits the net.

"You're getting better at this!" Nick complimented

"Thanks." Annie blushes.

They hear the door open, it was Nick's mother, Jane.

"Hey Nick and Annie, it's time for lunch." She smiles and goes back inside.

They go back inside, seeing Nick's siblings already sitting on the table. Nick sits in his seat and Jane places an extra chair next to Nick for Annie.

"Where's dad?" Nick's youngest brother and sibling, Aaron, asked. Annie jokingly calls him 'Little Nick' cause their fashion is almost the same, Aaron doesn't mind it.

"Mom already said that he is at work." Nick's sister, who is the second child, Bobbie Jean grumbled, but Jane lied about that.

"Sure he is." Nick whispered quietly to himself, Annie heard that but didn't comment.

Nick's family life is harsh, too much drinking, too much fighting, his parents fight about money a lot, and Nick wants to help that. They would hear gunshots go off (but not at each other) and Annie realizes that it was from his house.

He only told this to her because they trust each other, they're practically close friends since the incident happened, but what Annie doesn't know is that he boozes too.

All of them got a piece of chicken- or two- and started eating.

• • •

"Have you ever heard of Nirvana?" Annie asks, they're back in Nick's bedroom.

"Never heard of them." Nick responds and shakes his head.

"Ooh okay, do you have a CD player?" Annie asks, interested.

"Uhh yeah, it's downstairs. Want me to go get it?" Nick asks, pointing to his door with his thumb.

"Yeah, and I'll run back to my house and get something." Annie stands up, and Nick nods at that.

They both do what they do. Annie sprinted back into her house, which is next to Nick's house.

Tate sees her, "I thought you were gonna stay at Nick's for a while?"

"Yeah, but I just have to get something." Annie breathes and walks inside her bedroom.

She finds what she is looking for, which is on her desk. She runs back out, not closing the door but Tate does it.

She gets back in Nick's room, panting, "I got it." She holds the item up.

"Is that an album?" Nick asks, the CD player on his desk.

"Yeah, Nirvana's first album. Lauren left it at home for me to listen two weeks ago and I really liked it." Annie sat next to him, showing the album.

"Wow.." Nick leans in closer, admiring the album cover.

"Let's listen to it." Annie says, opening the album and pulling out the CD.

She gives it to Nick so he can put it in the CD player.

The first song, Blew, plays, Nick is reading through the list of songs from the album.

"So this is Blew right?" Nick asks, Annie responded with a "Mhm."

Nick bobs his head to the song, "I never really listen to these kinds of rock music, but they're really good." Nick confesses.

It's reasonable to Annie. Nick only listens to classical rock, soft rock, and other songs that he could sing, same with Annie, they both don't listen to popular songs from the radio.

Lauren introduced her to Nirvana a couple weeks ago, and she is a bit into it.

After the first two songs, About a Girl starts playing.

"This is my favorite song." Annie quietly says.

_"I need an easy friend_

_I do, with an ear to lend_

_I don't think you fit this shoe_

_I do, won't you have a clue._

_I'll take advantage while_

_You hang me out to dry_

_But I can't see you every night_

_Free.. I do.."_

Annie quietly sings along and bobs her head to the song.

_"I'm standing in your line_

_I do hope you have the time_

_I do pick a number too_

_I do keep a date with you._

_I'll take advantage while_

_You hang me out to dry_

_But I can't see you every night_

_Free.. I do.."_

Nick picks up the meaning of this song. The guitar continues to play from the music.

_"I need an easy friend_

_I do whip her in to land_

_I do think you fit this shoe_

_I do won't you have a clue."_

Nick glances up at Annie, as a sign.

_"I'll take advantage while_

_You hang me out to dry_

_But I can't see you every night_

_No I can't see you every night_

_Free.. I do.."_

Annie can feel Nick staring at her, and she doesn't look back, she wonders why he is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short lil chapter, stream nirvana  
> \- k ♡


	4. Chapter 3

**September 6, 1992**

It's been a year since Nick and Annie became friends, more like best friends.

Annie would come to his auditions and watch him amazingly perform and act, they would both visit each other's homes, they play together, do homework together, and do other things together and support each other's doings, their relatives say they're inseparable.

Nick has been doing a lot of cover songs with his group 'Nick and the Angels' that was made by his dance teacher, they started two years ago but Annie knew about it until last year when he performed _Love Is a Wonderful Thing_.

"My neighbor Maggie is throwing a birthday party and she wants you guys to come." Lauren tells Annie through the telephone, referring to 'you guys' as her and Nick.

"Um, Nick's at his grandma's at the moment but I'll ask him when he gets back." Annie says.

"When is it?" Annie asks.

"Tomorrow at like five PM." Lauren responds.

"Ahh okay, wait- how about your dad?"

"I'm living with my mom at the moment so she knows about it." Lauren responds.

The reason why Annie asks that question is because Lauren's dad is really strict. Both of her parents divorced and lived in different houses, so whenever she's at her mom's, she can rebel anytime she wants or do anything freely.

"I'll have to ask my mom, she'll probably say yes anyways." Annie says.

"I have to go do something, see you tomorrow." Lauren says.

"Okay, bye Lauren!" Annie puts the telephone down.

She walked to the living room and sat next to Colette on the couch, "Hey ma."

"Annie." Colette responds.

"Can I go to Lauren's friend's birthday party?" Annie asks.

"What's their name, and do you even know them?" Colette asks.

"Maggie, she's in one of my classes and we sometimes talk." Annie responds, fiddling with her friendship bracelet.

"Oh okay, yes you can go." Colette nods.

Annie hugs her, "Thanks ma."

Colette hugs back, "Oh, could you check up on your baby sister?"

Annie let's go, "Okay." She walks to her mother's room, seeing her almost one year old diapered baby sister, Jules, laying down on her mom's bed with an empty baby bottle on her left side.

Jules was born on September twenty-third of last year, she took her mom's last name.

Tate, Annie, and Nick came to the emergency room with her, although Annie and Nick had to get picked up early by Jane since it was a sunday, they still got to hold Jules after school.

Annie sees Jules slowly waking up, she softly smiles "Hello, Jules."

Jules giggles, which made Annie's smile even wider.

"How are you?" Annie asks in a high pitched voice, Jules giggles again and kicks around.

Annie looks out the sunny window, seeing that the Carter family has arrived and they're getting out of their car.

Annie looks at Jules, "Put clothes on so we can go see Nicky!" She whispers, helping Jules get off the bed.

Annie opens a drawer that's full of Jules' clothes. She pulls out a light blue t-shirt and black leggings, she helps Jules put them on.

They go to the front door and put on their shoes, Annie helps Jules put on her shoes.

She opens the door, the sunshine hitting her, she covers her face and goes outside, holding Jules' small hand for safety.

They both walk up to their front door and knock.

"I'll get it!" She hears Bobbie Jean yell and her footsteps come closer.

She opens the door, she would've expected Annie, "Hi Annie!" She exclaims.

"Hi!" Annie side hugs BJ, she hugs back.

BJ lets go and lets her in.

"If you're looking for Nick, he's in Aaron and Angel's room." BJ says. Angel is Aaron's fraternal twin sister.

"Thank you." Annie nods, grabs Jules' hand, and walks to their room.

They hear screaming and laughing from the room, "Jules, knock on the door." Annie whispers. Jules knocks, more like smacks, the door lightly.

Nick opens the door, "Annie!" He immediately hugs her, Annie giggles and hugs back. Their height is almost the same, Annie is still slightly taller than him.

Nick feels a tap on his leg, he looks down and sees little Jules grinning cutely.

He lets go of Annie and lifts up Jules, fixing the hair that was in front of her face.

"And how are you?" Nick asks and boops Jules' nose which causes her to laugh.

"Ignoring me now huh?" Annie makes an angry face and crosses her arms.

"No, you're my favorite." Nick smiles at her.

Annie rolls her eyes and smiles. She comes inside and closes the door.

Nick sits down on the floor next to Aaron, who is playing with his trucks with Angel, Annie sits next to Nick.

"How are you?" She asks Nick, who is playing with Jules' on his lap.

"I'm doing good!" Nick responds.

"Also, I auditioned for two things two days ago." Nick adds.

Annie gasps, "You auditioned for _The Mickey Mouse Club_ , right?"

"Yes-" Nick gets cut off by Annie's squeal.

"Dude no way! I should've come with you." Annie squeals.

"I wish you were there too." Nick chuckles.

Annie chuckles too, "Anyways- sorry- what did you also audition for?"

"I auditioned to be in a boy band."

Annie wasn't expecting that, but she also wasn't disappointed, "I- I did not expect that."

"But what about your group? _Nick and the Angels_?" She asks, furrowing her eyebrows.

"I don't know, I'll have to tell my dance teacher about it. It's not like I'm gonna get in anyways." Nick shrugs.

"You most likely will, you're too talented." Annie smiles a little, Nick shrugs again.

"Hey! She's eating my bear!" Angel points at Jules, who is trying to bite a small stuffed toy bear's ear off.

Annie takes the bear from her, which causes her to whine and try to reach for it.

Angel sees that Jules' about to cry, "Never mind, she can have it.", Annie gives it back to Jules.

"I have to ask you something," Annie says to Nick, fixing Jules' shirt.

"What is it?" Nick looks at her.

"Lauren's friend Maggie- you probably know her- is having a birthday party tomorrow at five PM and she wants us to come." Annie says.

Nick nods, "I could probably come, I'll have to ask though."

"Who's picking us up?" Nick asks.

"Lauren's mom probably." Annie responds.

Annie feels something hit her knee lightly, it was a little car toy.

"Sorry Annie." Aaron apologizes.

• • •

_**The next day** _

"Are you ready?" Nick asks, standing in front of Annie's bedroom door.

"Yes." Annie responds.

Annie wore a tucked in white graphic tee of _Pyrokinesis for Beginners_ , dark cuffed mom jeans with a black belt, and black converse.

Nick wore a tucked in white t-shirt, long denim shorts, and a patterned unbuttoned red flannel.

"Your mom's in the car by the way." Nick reminded her..

"Oh okay." Annie nods and they walk out.

They get in the backseat of the car, and put their seat belts on.

"You guys ready?" Colette asks, adjusting the mirror.

"Yes." Nick and Annie say in sync, and they drive off.

• • •

"You guys came!" Lauren hugs Annie, Nick silently watches.

Maggie's invited people from school, mostly seventh graders, they're all gathering around.

"Maggie!" Lauren calls out from behind.

Maggie runs up to them, wearing her birthday cone hat.

"Hi Annie and Nick!" She greeted them, they both waved at her.

"Do you guys want something to eat or drink?" Maggie asks, showing them the food table.

Nick and Annie questioningly look at each other.

Annie looks at Maggie and smiles, "We'll just have punch please." She says

Maggie nods and gives them plastic cups full of fruit punch.

They both take it, "Thank you." They both said.

"There are so many people." Nick whispers to Annie, she agrees.

They've been talking for a while, including Lauren. They got to sing happy birthday to Maggie.

"Guys! We should play spin the bottle!" One of Maggie's friends announces, most of the people agreed and they sat in a circle.

"Guys! They're playing spin the bottle." Lauren says to Nick and Annie.

"We haven't even kissed anyone yet!" Nick exclaims, and Annie agrees.

"Well you guys will now, let's go!" Lauren grabbed both of their hands and sat in the circle.

Maggie places an empty glass coke bottle in the middle of the circle.

"I'll go first!" Maggie exclaims and spins the bottle.

The bottle lands on one of Maggie's redhead friend, Allison. They give each other a peck on the lips.

Allison's turn to spin, it lands on George. They peck each other.

George spins the bottle, and it lands on Nick.

He widens his eyes, "Oh god no! I'm not gonna kiss a boy!" He exclaims.

Most of the people groaned and complained while Nick and Annie are quiet.

Nick sighs and spins the bottle, it lands on Annie.

They both blushed, the people stared at them, Lauren giggled.

"They look good together." Allison whispers in Maggie's ear.

Annie pecked the corner of Nick's lips.

"Oh come on! That wasn't even a kiss on the lips!" Someone complains.

Nick wants to get over with it, he grabs Annie's face and kisses her.

Annie was in shock to even kiss him back. The circle was silent.

They pulled away and blushed so hard that their face is the same color as Allison's hair.

They came home later without saying a word to each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MAGGIE IS PORTRAYED AS MY BEST FRIEND @WOOHOOBYERS MARGE  
> \- k ♡


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short lil chapter  
> \- k ♡

**September 7, 1992**

It's been a day since the kiss happened, Nick and Annie haven't talked today because it is so awkward for them to interact after that happened.

"Have you talked to Nick since?" Lauren asks through the phone.

Annie shakes her head, not thinking that Lauren wouldn't see her.

"Umm, hello?" Lauren calls out.

Annie goes back into reality, "Oh I'm sorry, also no I haven't.

"You should, I am not sure why you guys seem awkward since it's just a friendly kiss? Maybe?" Lauren questions.

"Or…" Lauren pauses.

"I don't like him!" Annie suddenly stated.

"Woah! I didn't say anything about that.." Lauren cautioned.

Annie facepalms and apologizes again.

Lauren was about to ask about that, but she doesn't wanna make her more frustrated.

"Also yeah.. I should probably talk to him later." Annie says.

"Okay good, cause you guys are such best friends." Lauren exhales, Annie chuckles a little.

• • •

While Annie's doing her homework in her room, she hears the doorbell ring.

Tate opens the door, revealing Nick.  
"Hello, is Annie here?" Nick asks.

"Yes, she's in her room." Tate points down the hallway.

Nick nods and walks to her room.

He opens the door without knocking and lets himself inside, sitting on her bed.

"You should've knocked." Annie says, even though she knows who rang the doorbell.

"We have to talk about this." Nick says, looking at her, she's not looking back.

"I know." Annie responds.

"That was awkward." Nick says.

"I know." Annie repeats.

"I'm sorry for ignoring you for a little." Nick apologizes.

"Me too." Annie responds.

"Although.. I'm kind of glad you were my first kiss.." Nick blushes.

Annie furrows her eyebrows and finally looks at him, "What do you mean by that?" She doesn't want to get her hopes up.

"Like.. I'm glad my first kiss was someone I already knew." Nick explains.

"I don't like you that way though." Nick added.

Annie understands, "Me too."

"So.. it's just like a friendly kiss?" Annie says, sounding questionable.

"Mhm." Nick nods.

Annie hugs him, "Aw man! I don't wanna lose you."

Nick hugs back, "Me too, you're my best friend and I can never lose you."


	6. Chapter 5

**September 23, 1992**

Today is Jules’ first birthday, it seems like she was born yesterday to them.

After school, Tate picks up Nick, Annie, and Lauren to McDonald's to celebrate, Nick’s siblings are also coming.

Other than that, Nick also has news.

"Yesterday I got the callback." Nick takes a bite of his cheeseburger.

"Well, more like callbacks." Nick added.

"Both?!" Annie exclaims.

"What callbacks?" Lauren asks, confused.

Nick and Annie look at each other, mentally asking each other who should tell her about it.

Annie does it, "So basically, when Nick was in Orlando, he auditioned for The _Mickey Mouse Club_ and a boy band." She explains and Lauren nods in response.

"My mom told me about it and I had to choose-" Nick gets cut off.

"That's such a big decision for your age." Annie says.

Nick agrees, "It is. MMC had a fifty-thousand dollar contract and the boy band has no money yet." He says.

"Which one are you gonna choose?" Lauren asks.

"I don't know yet, my mom preferred MMC." Nick says.

"Because of the money.." Annie stated.

Nick nods, "Yeah, basically."

"I need your guys' help on this. Which one would you guys choose and why?" Nick asks.

"So.. if one of our reasoning is good, you would agree and do that one?" Lauren asks.

"Uhh.. no. I'm just curious." Nick shakes his head.

Annie and Lauren think for a little while.

"I can't really see myself doing any of those, but if i had to choose I would do _Mickey Mouse Club_." Lauren says.

"Why?" Annie asks.

"Well because I already got a fifty-thousand dollar contract even if MMC ends." Lauren reasons.

"Disney is premium, not a lot of people watch MMC, so you most likely won't be known." Annie comments.

Lauren shrugs, "You may never know."

"I get what you mean and that's the thing, _Mickey Mouse Club_ doesn't last forever. So I would choose boy band because well, boy bands are becoming more popular, and you make your own money that might be more than a fifty-thousand dollar contract , you just need patience." Annie reasons.

"Yours make more sense than mine." Lauren says.

Nick nods, "You guys have good reasons, I'll think about it." He takes a sip of his soda. Annie eats a fry.

"Hey Lauren, are you getting picked up here?" Annie asks.

Lauren shakes her head, "No, I guess we can all watch _The Mickey Mouse Club_ together."

Annie smiles, "Great!"

"Hey kids! Let's sing happy birthday!" Colette calls out.

• • •

As they arrived back at Annie's home at six PM, they immediately got out of the car and went inside the house (Annie has the keys).

They plop down on the couch and Annie turns on the TV.

" _Ilana! Kevin! Rhona!..._ "

They all exhaled, Lauren leans her head up in relief. Colette carries sleeping Jules to her room while Tate gets back in the car to drive to work.

"Today's Video Jam is ready to roll, so let's do it! Here's JC and Mylin singing Mysterious Ways!" One of the club members, Jennifer, introduces.

"Ooh JC!" Lauren giggles at Annie.

Annie rolls her eyes and smiles, a little bit excited for this.

Clips show Mylin dancing, and clouds.

" _Johnny take a walk, with your sister the moon. Let her pale light in, to fill up your room. You've been living underground, eating from a can, you've been running away, from what you don't understand, Love_." JC lowly sings and dances around, flipping his hair around.

Annie thinks it's very attractive.

" _She's slippy, you're sliding down, she'll be there, when you hit the ground_."

Annie blushes and looks at Lauren, who is also looking at her with a grin on her face, Nick is just focusing on what's happening on the screen.

"He looks so good." Annie mutters.

Annie covers her smile with her hand and Lauren starts cackling.

Nick looks at them confusingly, "What happened?" He asks.

Lauren looks at him and looks back at Annie with a teasing smile, Annie raised her eyebrows.

Lauren looks back at Nick, "You know JC, right?"

"Uhh.. yeah, he's the one performing right now." Nick responds.

"Well, Annie has a crush on him." Lauren says.

Nick was slightly unimpressed by that, but it was a little surprising for him, he never expected Annie to like someone as a crush.

"Ugh, this is embarrassing." Annie lays down and rubs her eyes.

"Not really, it's just some celebrity crush that doesn't even know you exist." Lauren proves.

"I kind of wish." Annie quietly says.

"I don't think he's a celebrity." Nick noted, they ignore his comment.

"What do you see in him?" Nick asks and looks at Annie with a pinch of jealousy in his voice.

Annie sits up, "Well, you can clearly see he's really talented in many ways." She points to the screen.

"And he's really handsome." Annie adds, blushing again.

Nick doesn't answer back and looks back at the screen again.

 _'I think he's jealous.'_ Lauren thinks to herself.

• • •

an hour later, Lauren got picked up by her dad, now it's just Nick and Annie alone with the living room.

"I think I'm gonna do boy band." Nick speaks up.

Annie nods, "Well good for you, I will support you."

"Would you like, come with me during this?" Nick asks.

Annie furrows her eyebrows, "What do you mean?"

"Like.. stay with me- or us- during touring, recording, rehearsing, and traveling if we ever do that, because you're my bestest friend and I don't like being apart from you." Nick explains.

"And you could help us with some songs since you like songwriting."

Annie's stomach churns, "I don't know about that. I'll have to ask my mom, even though she says yes a lot of times but I don't know about this time."

"I mean- I would love to of course! But since we are.. you know.. minors, and we have other stuff to do." Annie adds.

Nick nods, "I understand that, my mom will be guarding us." He says.

"Okay then."

Nick checks the clock, "I think I have to go, it's dinner at my house." He stands up from the couch and walks to the front door, Annie follows him.

They hug and say goodbye to each other.

• • •

**_The next day_ **

Annie had her alarm early at five AM so she could have this conversation.

They're in the kitchen, eating scrambled eggs and breakfast sausage.

"Hey mom." Annie speaks up, Colette looks up at her.

"There's this thing.."

"What is it?" Colette asks, putting her fork down.

"So, Nick got two callbacks from MMC and a forming boy band, and he chose the boy band." Annie says and Colette seems to follow.

"He asks if I could join him during this boy band thing, like touring and all this, like be with them." Annie says and Colette slightly widens her eyes at the unexpecting question.

"Would you maybe let me?" Annie asks, a little nervous since she doesn't wanna disappoint Nick.

Colette slightly looks up and sucks on her teeth, thinking.

"Well, I mean most of us say you guys are like "attached" to each other so it kind of makes sense." Colette says and Annie agrees.

"Do you want to?" Colette asks.

"I mean, I would love to explore and learn a lot so yes." Annie nods.

"Who's chaperoning and what about school?" Colette asks.

"Nick says Jane will, and I think they will have a tutor." Annie responds.

Colette furrows her eyebrows and drinks water.

"I will have a talk with his mom about this later, does she know about this?" Colette asks.

Annie shrugs, "Probably."

Colette sighs, "I'll think about it, but get ready."

Annie nods, putting her finished plate in the sink and walks to her room.

• • •

"Does your mom know about you wanting me to come?" Annie asks Nick while gluing a piece of a magazine on her paper.

"Yeah, and she already called back the company and they got my name." Nick responds.

"That's great!"

Lauren and Maggie came back with _Tutti Pinup_ and _Teen Beat_ magazines, squealing.

"What if my mom says no? How would you feel? I mean.. I could visit you, y'know?" Annie asks.

Nick shrugs, "Well, it's okay if you can't, you have other important stuff to do and I understand that. I would feel okay, even if I like hanging out with you a lot, I won't forget you." Nick smiles, Annie smiles back.

"Guys look!"

Maggie opens her _Teen Beat_ magazine and the first photo comes up.

"Is that Joey McIntyre?!" Lauren asks almost too loudly, the concentrated student in front of them shushes her but she ignores it, Annie rolls her eyes.

"He kinda looks good.." Maggie says, flipping the pages.

It was Lauren's turn to open her magazine, she opened her _Tutti Pinup_ magazine.

She was turning some pages, mentally drooling over hot boys she barely knows from the magazine like Jonathan Brandis. She never really sees these guys since her dad keeps her away from a lot of teen magazines and even MTV.

She came across a page that Annie and Maggie will like.

Maggie looks over, "It's _The Party_!" She squeals, which causes the same person to shush at her.

Annie looks at the magazine, "From MMC?"

"Mhm." Maggie nods and grabs the magazine to show her.

"DeeDee looks so good. I'm taking it and keeping it." Maggie says and grabs a scissor.

"I can't find a MMC one." Lauren complains while skimming through her other magazine.

Annie goes back to doing her artwork.

• • •

"So I had a talk with Jane." Colette says.

Annie looks up at her from the dining table.

"She promised that she or a person will be guarding you guys, she's guarding you guys for now, so I trust her." Colette says.

Annie nods, "Okay.. so.. would you let me?"

Colette smiles a little and nods.

Annie grins and hugs her mom.

"Thank you so much! Nick is gonna be so happy!" Annie squeals.

Colette chuckles and hugs back.

And this is where Annie's (and Nick's) new adventure is gonna start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the video was originally 1993 but changed the dates :)  
> here's the link to 'mysterious ways'  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgLrsZ2d4XI
> 
> \- k ♡


	7. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for not updating for a while. online school started.

**September 26, 1992**

Other hobbies that Annie does whenever she doesn't write, play guitar, or go play outside, is dancing.

Annie loves dancing, she would learn choreographies or make her own. Her and Nick would sometimes dance around her room with music on, she doesn't want to do it in public.

But she has her ways to show her talent that doesn't involve her to be in the public eye, which is songwriting, hopefully she can write some songs for the group.

Nick and Annie are in Annie's room, jamming to _Fire in the Twilight_ after watching one of Annie's favorite movies, _The Breakfast Club_.

_He is burning, burning in the twilight._

_He is burning, turning to face us._

_He is burning, fire in the twilight._

_He is burning, turning to lead us away, away, away,_

_Lead us away, away, away._

The song is still playing. Annie collapsed on the bed, trying to catch her breath from dancing too hard. Her head feels a little dizzy so she closes her eyes, her abdomen starts hurting.

Nick sits next to her, trying to catch his breath too.

"We danced so hard." Nick says.

Annie nods in response, too exhausted to even say anything.

Annie sits up and drinks water.

"Forgot to tell you this, but I'm going with you to the boy band thing."

"Yes!" Nick puts his hands up in the air in excitement, Annie giggles at that.

Annie clears her throat "I'll be right back." She says and stands up.

Nick didn't mean to look at it, there's a dark red stain on the back of her light jean shorts.

"U-um Annie?" Nick stutters.

Annie turns to look at him and raises her eyebrows.

Nick doesn't know what to say, he just shyly points at her butt.

Annie thinks he's a pervert, but then she looks down and sees a blood stain.

She started her first menstruation.

"Oh fuck." Annie mutters, puts her glass on her table and runs to the living room. Nick follows her.

"Aunt Tate!" She calls out.

"What?"

"Do you have pads?" Annie asks.

Tate realizes what happened to her, "Uh yes, it's in the cabinet under the sink."

Annie runs to the bathroom, opening the cabinet and pulls out a pad from the bag. She shuts the door in Nick's face.

Nick sighs and goes back to her room to wait for her.

After three minutes, she came back to her room.

"I'm sorry Annie." Nick suddenly apologizes.

"No need to apologize, none of our faults, it's a normal thing. I'm glad you pointed it out." Annie says.

Nick smiles a little.

"So.. how did your mom let you go with us?" Nick asks.

"Well, I asked my mom about it and she got to talk to your mom about it while we were at school. She approved it." Annie explains.

Nick nods and smiles, "That's great!"

"So.. when are we going." Annie asks.

"November twenty-first." Nick responds.

• • •

_**Two months later** _

Colette hugs Annie. "Be safe, okay?"

"I will ma, even though we're coming back later." Annie promises.

Colette lets go and smiles at her.

Colette looks over to see Nick, "They're ready, have fun okay?"

Annie nods and smiles back, grabbing her small backpack and goes up to Nick.

"You ready?" Nick asks.

"Yup." Annie responds, popping the 'p'.

Nick smiles and nods, opening the backseat car door for her. Annie goes inside and Nick closes the door.

Nick sits at the front, "My mom might take long." He apologizes.

Annie shrugs "It's okay."

After many minutes later, Jane comes in the car, apologizes (mostly towards Annie) for taking so long.

They finally drive off to Orlando. Good thing Annie brought her word search book so she wouldn't be bored during the whole car ride.

• • •

"We're here!" Jane said, which made Annie look up from her word search.

They arrived at a building called Trans Continental, which Annie guessed was some random building that they were gonna meet up in since she doesn't know what that means.

Annie grabs her bag and gets out of the car.

Annie walks around the car to Nick, "What is this?"

"I'm pretty sure it's a record company." Nick responds.

They all walk inside the building, confused on where to go.

Nick taps on his mom's arm, "Uh.. where do we go?" He asks.

Before Jane got to even answer, an overweight man with glasses and an outfit that makes him look like a manager, comes out of a room and walks up to them.

"Hello there, you must be Nick, right?" The man asks. Nick nods.

"I'm Lou Pearlman, nice to meet you." Lou shook his hand.

"Well you guys come on in." He led them to a room, which is the meeting room.

"This is AJ McLean and Burk Parsons." He introduced the two boys who were sitting.

Nick knows AJ McLean, they met at a singing competition at Universal Studios. AJ's also one of the judges for the boy band audition.

The two guys walked up to Nick and shook his hand. Annie is standing next to Nick and just quietly watching them.

AJ glanced at her, "Are you part of the group too?" He asks, sounding like he was joking.

Annie blushed and backed up a little. AJ chuckles at that, he just took her hand and shook it.

"Okay so it's just the three of you guys today, tomorrow Sam Licata, and hopefully Tony Donetti would respond." Lou made sure, AJ nodded.

Annie doesn't know who Tony is, but she hopes that they find him.

While the meeting is going on, Jane quietly tells Annie something.

"You know, if you're gonna join this, you might have to think of a job that includes helping this industry."

 _'A job?'_ Annie thought.

"Why?" She asks, not in a rude way.

"So you can earn money, go to college or not, and not be bored, cause it will be long, depends on if this goes on." Jane reasons. Annie nods.

"You guys will be back in the first week of next month, and start doing covers." Lou concluded.

After that, they dismissed themselves.

"See you guys soon." AJ and Burk waved at Annie and Nick, they waved back.

As they got in the car, Jane asks "Do you guys want ice cream? I found an ice cream shop while driving."

Nick and Annie nodded.

• • •

"Your mom said if I'm going with you, I may need a job that includes the industry." Annie says, both of them eating their mint chocolate chip ice cream. They're alone in the shop cause Jane went to the store to get some items.

Nick furrows his eyebrows, "You don't have to, you know."

"Yeah but.. what if I want to?" Annie asks.

"Well.. you like songwriting right?"

Annie nods.

"You can write songs for us." Nick requests.

"Thought about that." Annie chuckles.

"Okay but like- actually write songs for us because you are so good at it and I want you to show your talent." Nick slightly begs.

"I will." Annie nods and smiles, he smiles back.

"Also I would like to find actors for your music videos." Annie requests.

"You'll make a lotta money." Nick chuckles.

They both see Jane at the side, gesturing at them to get in the car.


End file.
